Lincoln Estates' permit to house disabled renewed

Wednesday

Jul 25, 2007 at 12:01 AMJul 25, 2007 at 6:19 AM

After years of debate and wavering support from Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a state agency spokesman said Tuesday that Lincoln Estates, a cluster of homes for 40 developmentally disabled adults at the site of the former Lincoln Developmental Center, probably will open sometime in the next 12 months.

Dean Olsen

After years of debate and wavering support from Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a state agency spokesman said Tuesday that Lincoln Estates, a cluster of homes for 40 developmentally disabled adults at the site of the former Lincoln Developmental Center, probably will open sometime in the next 12 months.

If a fiscal 2008 budget for state government can be worked out by the governor and Illinois General Assembly, Tom Green said Blagojevich intends to use $5 million to $15 million to staff the newly built $4.1 million complex of four 10-bed homes in Lincoln.

The statements from Green, a spokesman for the Illinois Department of Human Services, came the same day the agency received unanimous approval from the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board for a one-year renewal of Lincoln Estates’ state permit.

Approval from the independent board was needed because the permit had expired June 30 without the complex opening. Lincoln Estates hasn’t opened because proposed funding in the fiscal 2006 budget was removed, and it wouldn’t be able to open this fiscal year without a permit.

Green said the opening of Lincoln Estates would mean the hiring of about 60 workers, some of whom might regain jobs they lost when the state-operated LDC closed in 2002 amid allegations of abuse and neglect of residents. About 300 people were working there when the center closed.

The site also could provide new homes for some of the approximately 100 disabled residents who were living at LDC, Green said.

Two years ago, 35 to 40 families — most of them from central Illinois — told Human Services they would gladly move their loved ones back to the site, he said.

Blagojevich had said in August 2006 that he was leaning toward using the former LDC site as a health-care facility for military veterans — an idea supported by state Rep. Bill Mitchell, R-Forsyth. The governor’s position at that time was a change from his 2002 campaign, when he promised in writing to state Sen. Larry Bomke, R-Springfield, that he would reopen LDC.

But Green said Tuesday the idea to make the Lincoln site a health facility for veterans is “not on the table anymore.”

The statement from Green, who speaks for an agency controlled by the governor, appeared to indicate stronger support for Lincoln Estates as a future site for the developmentally disabled than Bomke said he received from Blagojevich last week.

Bomke said the governor didn’t give him a straight answer when he brought up the subject at the close of a budget negotiation session in Springfield between Blagojevich and lawmakers.

Bomke called Green’s comments “extremely encouraging.”

Bomke, who originally supported reopening LDC at its former size, agreed with a task force that instead recommended constructing the smaller, individual homes on the site.

Advocates for the disabled opposed the reopening of LDC and continue to oppose Lincoln Estates, contending it still would provide an inferior, “institutional” environment for residents.

About 20 advocates disrupted the Health Facilities Planning Board’s Chicago meeting for 45 minutes by chanting “No more Lincoln,” but they didn’t stop the board from approving the permit renewal.

Mark Karner, director of advocacy for the Forest Park-based Progress Center for Independent Living, took part in the protest and said he doesn’t care what other purpose state officials find for the former LDC site.

“There’s a lot of things they could do with it rather than warehouse people with disabilities in it,” he said.

Karner said small group homes — accommodating no more than four residents — would provide a better quality of life, adding that Illinois needs more “community-based” choices for the developmentally disabled.

However, Green said Lincoln Estates will be different.

“We think that the four homes that we built are in a community-type setting — a park-like setting,” he said. “We do not consider them to be the Lincoln Developmental Center of the past.”

Bomke agreed, saying he is puzzled by the advocates’ opposition to Lincoln Estates.

“This is as close to community-based as you’re going to get,” he said.